An accident and a thief get tangled in God’s plan

Peter’s story: Uganda

It was Christmas Day. My wife, Leah, and I had sent our children on to my parents’ home earlier, and after we had finished church, headed out to their village in a church van. Getting closer, we stopped in Kumi Town and Leah and I went to pick up some extra things to take to my parents.. Coming back to the car, we found our driver had decided to act on his idea of generosity, allowing a traveller looking for a ride in the same direction to come with us. I was not comfortable, but given he was already in the car, it would have seemed rude to put him out.

We resumed our journey, but not far on the vehicle began behaving in a very erratic way, with both steering and brakes seeming to fail at once. Before we knew it, we were off the road, rolling down an embankment. I don’t remember much – I ended up with severe head injuries and a number of other broken bones – but I do remember our guest walking away.

Somehow, we got to a hospital where some treatment began, but it was going to be difficult. In Uganda, you must pay up front for all treatment. We used the little we had, but already we were behind on our rent, as several of my “paid positions” were behind on wages, and other work was drying up. Not able to work due to injuries, and not able to pay for medical work, no money for our children’s schooling, let alone rent and food, we wondered where we would end up. Our faith in God was strong, but this was really testing us.

Martin’s Story: Australia

Some years back, I was invited onto the board of a faith-based organisation working to alleviate poverty in a number of African nations through education. As part of the role, my wife, Ruth, and I decided to head to their “train-the -trainer” conference in Uganda to get a better perspective and understanding of both the program as well as Uganda, a place we’d never even contemplated going. And yet, we sensed God’s prompting, so off we went. It was an encouraging journey and we quickly connected with a number of people, including a member of the Uganda board named Peter. We felt that God had more for us to do here.

Returning home, life went on, in the main, normally. However, within six months, the door slammed suddenly in our faces, and we sadly had to let our connections in Uganda go. So, we continued with what we were doing and left it with God.

And then, one day I received a strange message. It was from Peter’s contact number, but identifying themselves as a friend of Peter stating that Peter had been in a serious accident, and needed funds for his medical treatment and was reaching out to us for help.

Right away, something didn’t feel right about this message. However, I didn’t want to dismiss it completely, especially as I wasn’t getting any response from Peter or any other contacts in Uganda. Asking the messenger for more details only confirmed my suspicions, as I found out that the hospital he named was in neighbouring Kenya and some 300 kilometres away. Unlikely. However, given that the person was using Peter’s number and email, I was concerned about what had happened, and kept trying different avenues.

At last, we finally made contact again with Peter and found out the truth, that he had been in an accident, and while he was unconscious, someone had stolen his phone. It was this thief, we assumed, who had contacted us and probably many others. Realising that we could make a huge difference in Peter’s life and his family’s future by helping out financially (a little goes a lot further in Uganda than in Australia), we agreed to support them while he and Leah quite literally got back on their feet.

In the continuing conversations, and knowing that Peter had to truly start again having taken more than six months in recovery, we quickly realised that this was an avenue God wanted to use us in. The relationship has continued to develop even through more challenges (including covid), not just transforming the lives of Peter’s family, but extending out to young people, those in prison, even a whole village impacted by floods is now experiencing the impact of the Kingdom of God because of our relationship.

And an opportunistic thief who was trying to make money, actually ended up being used to help achieve God’s Plan for His Kingdom.

Two scriptures come to mind over these circumstances: Genesis 50:20 “ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”, and Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Peter only realised and heard the full story of what was going on whilst he and Leah lay critically injured in hospital. Sometimes it is when we are in a state of helplessness and despair that we find “God has this”. He is not idle or asleep and nor does anything catch Him by surprise. In this situation, He had already prepared the way and provision years before. And sometimes He uses the most unlikely person to activate His plan.